Twilio raises $12M to let you call a computer with telephone-to-web technology

November 9, 2010 1:38 PMMatthew Lynley

Twilio, which provides software to connect phone calls to web applications, announced today that it has raised $12 million in its second round of funding to bring additional engineers on staff and continue marketing its services.

The San Francisco, Calif.-based startup provides developers with an application programming interface (API) that connects landline, voice-over-IP and wireless phone calls to Web applications. That could lead to a variety of uses — such as an online call center, or calling a database to find information.

Twilio then charges for the phone calls. It charges 1 cent each minute for inbound calls to a web application, and 2 cents for outbound calls from an app. Twilio also upgraded the service earlier this year to connect text messages to Internet applications. Outbound SMS messages cost 3 cents per message. Each dedicated Twilio phone number that connects to a web application costs $1 per month. Twilio also provides a number of other premium services, like text-to-speech and transcripts of phone calls.